Mechanism fob tallying lumber



Feb. 6, 1951 E. J. LE BLANC 2,540,624

MECHANISM FOR TALLYING LUMBER Filed April 4, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 mmmmmmm 2&

JNVENTOR. F a G 1 23km CLJMW Feb. 6, 1951 E. J. LE BLANC 2,540,624

MECHANISM FOR TALLYING LUMBER Filed April 4, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Feb. 6, 1951 E. J. LE BLANC MECHANISM FOR TALLYING LUMBER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 4, 1949 V/l/l/l/l/l/ll/l/III/l/l/I/Il FIGT INVENTOR.

FIGS

Patented e1 6, 195i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,540,624 7 v MECHANISM FOR TALLYING LUMBER Elroy J. Le Blane, New Orleans, La, Application April 4, 19491'SerialNo; 85345 2 Claims. (01. z ssszl i Q Q My invention relates to mechanism for tallying lumber, and the purpose is to calculate lumeber in terms of board feet, by means of tabulating the respective pieces which make up the amount, according to their. length. The size of the ma,- terial to be tallied is compensated for in thickness and in width by separate sets of gears rep-. resenting each, and having ratios comparableto that size which it is to represent. The mechanism is so designed that any particular size, ac-. cording to its thickness and width may be tallied by means of a respective piece tally according to the length of each piece, and the calculation given is in board feet; this is shown on a counting device on the face of the machine. The ma-. chine will also show a total of the number of pieces ofeach length which has been tallied; this will enable the user to check back mathematically and prove the correctness, of the board feet shown.

r The principle used in this system is that of representing mathematical figures with sets of gears; my application of this principle here is to represent the particular sizes of lumber which t'em by sets of gears which are calculated by comparison of the desired" sizes (thickness and width) with those parts-of a board foot. This method of calculation will be fully described ins'ucceeding paragraphs. principle has not been applied to this particular purpose, or incorporated in any other system designed to carry out this particular work.

The only method known to me, which is in use today, is the method in, use for many years 35 which is to tally lumber by means of dots or dashes, representing pieces of the length, and'to compile the total of each respective piece, and

mathematically figure the board feet contained therein. That method is quite slow and proves about eighty per cent (80%) inaccurate. The inaccuracy incurred has been the cause of much trouble in the lumber business, and the slowmethe od has been the cause of, much loss in labor, as the tallyman must hold his crew in idleness while he calculates the amount of lumber which.

he has tallied. Therefore, it will be seen thatthe absolute accuracy, the time saved, and the simplicity of the use of this system would be very. beneficial to any business where the tallying of lumber is necessitated. I

The method of calculating the gears which To my knowledge, this.

ness and thewidthare compared to those Ora} board foot,- which isgene-ra-Hy known as one" inchin thickness, by twelve inches in width, or the multiple-of these, and these ratios are rep'-"' 5 resented by sets'of gears; To explain this more inches, or o'ne'to' three; Insuoh manner, the

are to represent the various sizes to be incor-Jv porated into, a system of this type may be ex-' plained as follows: the sizes, that is, the thickmay be desired to be incorporated in this sys- Z5 havinga ratio ofone toe-represent the lengtfite thoroughly, I will use for an' example, the size, two inches in thickness'by four inches in width; this will be compared? with the'board foot, whiclil' is one inch by twelve'inches' in width, Theii'a', setof gears to represent the thi'cknesswill Halli? a rati'o'of two inches compared, to one or t'wdtblf one ;"a' set'of gears to represent" the width would h'avea', ratio or four" inches compared to twelve;

ratio of sets" of gearsmay be calculated to rep-: resent any desired sizes of lumber. In cases where difie'rent' dimensionsv whose multiple, is', thicknessf times width, are the same, one, set

off gears maybe used to calculate both. An ex ample of this is two times four, where the-multiple is. eight which is the. same as one times eight whose multiple is eight, To compensate for the length of eachpiece, I provide aset of gears e len th bit s u e here because it S plifies; calculation since the counting device is toreg-isteri in digits of ten. Then for sets of gears to rep- I resent other lengths, that length will be, com

'pared to ten, and the ratio. of the gears be,

thesameas that comparison. An exampleqfii this is, for the length of eight;fe,et, we will, have-.- a ratio of eight feet to ten feet, or eight to For alengthof twelveieet, we will havea ratio; "of we e tot n it m. In this. manner, gears can becalculated to represent any desired lengt I It isto be understood that they sizes and lengt incorporated in the mechanism, may vary wide 1y inthe various phases of the lumber business and. that it would be impractical to incorporate; them all in one machine. Therefore, I am BQIL,

limited to f'any particular size or length. The novel features which Ibelieve. to be char acteristic of this invention are set forth-withv particularity in the appended claims.- The; inven v tion itself, however, both as to organicationandmethod of operation, together with add-itional.- objects and advantages thereof, will be-best 1m ==derstood from; thefollowi-ng description of a specific embodiment whenit isread in connece tionwiththe accompanying drawings in, which,

;Fig. 1 is av tonplan- View of a casing for containing the operating mechanism.

:Fig;-x2 is ayiew in horizontal section on theline 2 2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is view in vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is view in horizontal section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a view in vertical section on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a view in vertical section on the line 66 of Figs. 2 and 5.

Fig. 7 is a view in vertical section on the line 1-1 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 8 is a View in vertical section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 3.

By referring to the drawings, it will be noted that a casing 9 for the mechanism has a rectangular shape and is of light design. All of the operating mechanism which is used to set the machine to tally with and to read the results from, is shown on the face in Fig. 1. To the upper right of the face of the machine shown on the drawing in Fig. 1 is a small dial with its pointer and graduated as 1, 2, 3, and 4. This represents the thickness of the material. To the lower right of the machine there is another dial I I with its pointer and graduated as A, B, and C, which is to represent the, width of the material. Located between these two dials is counting device |'2 which shows the total number of board feet calculated. To the left'of the machine are nine key levers I3 to 2| located along a long edge, which represent the lengths of material as follows: l3 represents four feet; l4 represents six feet; I5 represents eight feet; I6 represents ten feet; I! represents twelve feet; l8 represents fourteen feet; l9 represents sixteen feet; 20 represents eighteen feet; 2| represents twenty feet. These keys are pressed in a downward motion to tally each piece of material according to its length. To the right of each of these keys, is shown a counting device 22 which is adapted to'be operated by the'respective key levers and which will total the number of pieces of each respective length tallied. These counting devices may be of stock design and may be bought for use in this system and therefore need not be shown in detail. The approximate depth of the machine and the stroke of the key representing the length may be seen from the end-view'drawing in Fig. 3. i

In a part build-up and description of this mechanism, I will take first the casing and add in the orderof assembly those parts which will be required to complete the system. In reference to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that there is a casing 9, rectangular in shape. There is joined to thiscasing on the inside two brackets which are marked 23 and 24; these brackets extend to nearly the middle of the casing and their shape maybe noted from Fig. 2. The entire casing is tobe bored for shafts and cut for keys.

0n the lower part of the rectangular casing 9, there are mounted nine small guide bars 25 upon each of which a rack 26 works. Upon each of these bars at different-points is a small collar 21 which restricts the stroke of the rack.

Upon each bar 25 which has just been described, there is mounted one of the racks 26 which is made to slide along that respective bar with the stroke of the controlling key and key lever to the collar marked 21 which restricts the stroke; these racks in order have teeth in number from two to inclusive.

The base portions of the racks 26 are connected to the key levers respectively'by links 28 as shown in Fig. 3. The key levers are pivoted on a rod 23 which acts as a fulcrum, and these levers are normally held in retracted position by springs 30 which connect the lower part of the levers to the side of the casing 9. The complete assembly of each of these keys may be seen in Fig. 3. All keys are held in a retracted position by means of springs 33 which connect the lower part of the key levers to the side of the casing as shown in Fig. 3.

As shown in Fig. 2, there is a shaft 32 running the entire length of the machine and free to turn in bearings. There are nine spur gears designated as 33, all of which are identical and have ten teeth each. These gears are fixed to the shaft 32 and are mounted in a position on this shaft so that when the racks 26 corresponding to them in number are made to slide forward on the guidebars 25, the teeth of the racks will engage with the teeth of the respective spur gears 33.

The action of the racks 26 on the spur gears 33 will rotate the shaft 32 in a counterclockwise direction a given portion of a complete turn according to the number of teeth on the racks which is engaged with the teeth of its respective spur gear. When the key is released, it will be returned to its normal position by means of its spring Si), and the shaft 32 will be returned to its normal position, which is made definite'by the stop 34 shown in Fig. 2.

Secured to the shaft 32 as shown in Fig. 5, there is a ratchet wheel 35 the teeth of which are engaged by a pawl 36 pivoted to a gear 3'! which is rotatable on the shaft 32. The gear 37! is secured to a toothed wheel 38 also rotatable on the shaft 32 and engaged by a detent 39 pivoted tov the casing 9. The gear 31 meshes with a long toothed gear 4|] while the gear 40 meshes with a gear 4|. Therefore when the shaft 32 is turned, the ratchet wheel 35 by means of the pawl 36 will rotate the gear 31 and also the toothed wheel 38. When the shaft 32 and the ratchet wheel 35 return to normal position, th wheel 38 will hold the gear 31 in the forward position to which it.

has been turned. The gear 4| is secured to a shaft 42 which is free in its bearings in the casing and is of sufficient length to slide back and forth.

The teeth of the gear 40 are long to permit it to remain in mesh with the gear 4|. The gear 4| has a ratio of one to one with the gear 31' on shaft 32. 43, 44, 45, and an each part of a pair of gears to represent a given thickness and are fixed to the shaft 42.

shaft is shifted from one position to another the teeth of one pair of gears will be engaged as allothers are disengaged. 41 shown on shaft 42 is a shift collar, which is grooved to fit the teeth of the gear 48 on a shaft 48', whichis used'to. govern it. The shaft 48" may be seen in Fig. 3, and consists of a short shaft mounted in the P brackets 23 and 24 and running vertically through th machine with the spur gear 48 having teeth This shaft protrudes through the face of the machine and is turned in connection with the dial IE] rep resenting thickness; this turns the spur gear 48 to mesh with the grooves of the collar 41.

and causes the collar 41 to slide the shaft 42 thus ferred to.

which are mounted ona shaft 53 as follows: 43 to 49, a ratio of two to one; 44 to 50, a ratio'of four to six; 45 to 5|, a ratio of five to four; 46 to 52, a ratio of one to one. The motion is trans- These gears areso arranged on the shaft in consideration of their mating gears referred to later that, as the' from shaft 42 to sum 51 by meansof whichever pair of gear are engaged- The gears, 45, 58, 5 I and52, which are mean edon the shaft 53 are arrangedin coordination with their mating gears of. the shaft. 42 so. that only one set of gears mayv be engaged atv any particular time. The counting device. t2 through which the shaft 53 passes freely is operatively associated, with a collar 54, which. fits. overthis shaft, and is, .free on the same. The gears marked 55.,v 56, and 51-, shown on the shaft 53 areall fixed to this shaft and arranged insuch a position as to coordinate with, thearrange,- ment of their mating gear 58, 59 and 50 on a shaft 6|. The motion will be transmitted from shaft 53: to the shaft 6| by whichever pair of gears are engaged. The ratios of the gears as follows: 55 to 58, a ratio of six to five; 5 55, a ratio of three to two; 57 to 60', a ratio of two to one. 7

' The gears 58, 59 and 60 are; fixed to the shaft 51; the are arranged in such. a position as to enable one set of gears to be engaged while all others are disengaged from their mating gears shown on the shaft 53 The member 62, on shaft 5T identical. with the member 41 on the shaft (2. It consists of a grooved. collar fixed to the shaft, and works from the teeth of a gear 63 shown in Fig. 2. 63 is identical with 43, having a vertical shaft 83' projecting through the face of themachine and is turned in connection with dial ll representing width, dial, the shaft 6| may be slid backward and forward engaging and disengaging its gears from their mating gears shown on the shaft .53.

64 is a gear fixed to the shaft 6|. It is used to transmit the motion from the shaft 6| to a longtooth gear 65. A gear 66- is securedto the collar 54 which is on the shaft 53, and is used to operate the counting device l2; it is. a spur gear and receives the motion transmitted by 65; "has a ratio to B4 of two to one.

l The. counting" device ['2 which is operated by Hon a direct drive registers in digits of ten,

may be of stock design.

:Having thus explained each particular working part of this system, I will now trace the action throughout these parts, having a key set on the dials for Width and thickness, that is, to use a. specific size. This will trace the motion of the machine through one specific pair of gears to transform that motion from the shaft 42 to the shaft 53, and one specific set of gears to transform the motion from the shaft 53 to the shaft El.

Let us suppose that we are to tally, using the size 1 by 6; then the dial I for the thickness would be set on the Figure 2. This would cause 41 to slide the shaft 42 into a position so as to engage 46 with 52. Then the dial II for width would be set at A, which would cause 62 to slide the shaft 6| into a position so as to engage 60 with 51. One of the keys representing length, would be pressed according to the length to be tallied; if the key l representing ten were pressed, the action would be transmitted to the rack which has five teeth. This rack would slide forward on its bar to contact the stop 21. The engagement of the teeth of the rack would turn shaft 32 exactly one-half of a turn in a counterclockwise motion. The ratchet 35 which is fixed to shaft 32 would engage its teeth with the pawl 36 on the gear 31 and turn the same exactly onehalf of a complete turn. When the key .l6 was released, the spring attached to the frame of By turning this I the machine would bring the shaft 32 taoie to normal position, which would be held-by; the return stop, which isdesignated as 34". The" 36- wouldaHow the Wheel 38 toturn in a counterclockwise motion; but, as the shaft-32 returned to a normal position, it would hold the wheel 38 at the given part of a turn to which it has moved The motion would then be transmitted by means ofthe gear 401:0 the gear M on the shaft 42 at a ratio of one to one; this would cause to turnlikewise in acounter-clockwise-motion one-half of acomplete turn. Since the gear 45 has a ratio of one to one with'the gear 52, the motion would be transmitted to the shaft 53, which would turn one-half of a complete turn in a clockwise. motion. The gear 51 would-trans mit its. motion. to the gear on the shaft 5k, and since therati'ohere is two to one the shaft 6.1 would. turn one-fourth of one complete t'urn in counterelockwisemotion. The gear 64 would then transmit its. power by means of the gear 65 to the gear. 66 and collar. 54 at a ratio of oneto two, which would turn the first dialof the count: ing device [2 one-half of a'complete. turnyrthe dial would then register the figure 5. Toicheck this,.we would figure the length and size. thatiwe have tallied. Thatis, with one pieceof. luby 6,, 10 feet long, the footage is equalto five; 1

This operation may be followed using any-pare ticular length or size, and it would check out exactly, and when used continuously, will-corm. pile on the counting device.

The gears and other parts herein used might be of any particular size and description, might be of. any arrangement so justifiedas to make up a machine which is light in construction, economical to produce, and carries out thesa me application of. principle. Gears ofdifferent ratios might be used to represent different sizes not shown or incorporated in this particularmachine which Lhave explained, but being; cal

cu n ed n suc a .manneras t e rn: out the action following the same application of principle which I have described.

I claim:

1. In mechanism for tallying lumber, the combination of a casing, a plurality of key levers pivoted to said casing and representing different lengths of lumber respectively, springs normally holding said levers retracted, a plurality of rack gears of different length pivoted to said key levers respectively, a plurality of guide bars in said casing on which said rack gears are supported respectively for sliding movement, stop members secured to said guide bars at different places respectively thereon, a longitudinal shaft rotatably mounted in said casing, a plurality of gears secured to said shaft with which said rack gears respectively are adapted to be moved into meshed engagement, a ratchet wheel secured to one end of said shaft, a pawl engaging said ratchet wheel, a gear rotatable on said shaft and to which said pawl is pivoted, a wheel to which said gear is secured, a detent pivoted to said casing and engaging said wheel, a gear rotatably mounted in said casing and with which the last mentioned gear meshes, a slideable shaft mounted in said casing, a gear secured to said slidable shaft and having slideable engagement with said last mentioned gear, a plurality of gears secured to said slideable shaft, a grooved amon -4 shift coiiaf secures? be said slideable shaft, a vertical short shaft, brackets in which said short shaft is rotatable, a gear secured to said short shaft and having teeth meshing with the grooves of said collar, a dial designating thickness of material secured to the end of said short shaft, a second longitudinal shaft rotatably mounted in said casing, gears secured to said last longitudinal shaft and which may be meshed respectively with coordinated gears of said slidable shaft according to the position thereof as determined by the setting of said dial, and a counting device through which said second longitudinal shaft passes operatively connected to said shaft.

2. In mechanism for tallying lumber, the combination of a casing, a plurality of key levers pivoted to said casing and representing different lengths of lumber respectively, springs normally holding said levers retracted, a plurality of rack gears of different length pivoted to said key levers respectively, a plurality of guide bars in said casing on which said rack gears are supported respectively for sliding movement, stop members secured to said guide bars at different places respectively thereon, a longitudinal shaft rotatably mounted in said casing,

,a'plurality of gears secured to said shaft with which said rack bars respectively are adapted to be moved into meshed engagement, a ratchet wheel secured to one end of said shaft, a pawl engaging said ratchet wheel, a gear rotatable on said shaft and to which said pawl is pivoted, a wheel to which said gear is secured,a detent pivoted to said casing and engaging said wheel, a gear rotatably mounted in said casing and with which the last mentioned gear meshes, a slideable shaft mounted in said casing, a gear se-- cured to said slideable shaft and having slideable engagement with said last mentioned gear, a plurality of gears secured to'said slideable shaft, a grooved shift collar secured 'to said slideable shaft, a vertical short shaft, brackets in which said short shaft is rotatable, a gear secured to said short shaft and having teeth meshing with the grooves of said collar, a dial desig- 8 hating thickness of material secured to the end of said short shaft, a second longitudinal shaft rotatably mounted in said casing, gears secured to said last longitudinal shaft and which may be meshed respectively with coordinated gears of said slideable shaft according to the position thereof as determined by the setting of said dial, a counting device through which" said second longitudinal shaft passes, a plurality of gears secured to said longitudinal shaft beyond the opposite end of said counting device, a second slideable shaft mounted in said casing, an operative connection between said counting device 7 and said second slideable shaft, a gear connection between said second slideable shaft and said last longitudinal shaft, a plurality of gears secured to said second slideable shaft, a grooved shift collar secured to said second slideable shaft, a second vertical short shaft, brackets in which said second short shaft is rotatable, a gear secured to said second short shaft and having teeth meshing with the grooves offsaid collar, and a second dial representing width of material secured to the end of said second short shaft whereby the last mentioned-gears of the last longitudinal shaft may be meshed respectively with coordinated gears of the second slideable shaft according to the position thereof as determined by the setting of said second dial.

ELROY J. LE BLANC.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Bauerle Jan. 29, 1924 

